Chapa Link’s primary focus is websites. We build and manage everything to do with your website. But sometimes we also help our clients set up email services.
We understand that email is an essential part of starting and growing a business.
Up to January 2023, we used to offer cPanel Webmail, but we do not anymore.
Today our email management services are offered in two options:
- Google Workspace
- Microsoft 365
This post explains why we manage our email services this way.
What is cPanel?
cPanel is a web hosting management software. cPanel allows hosters to add, remove, and edit website files, databases, domain records, among other things.
As part of your Chapa Link website service subscription, we administer all hosting operations for you. We do not provide access to cPanel because we take full responsibility of hosting maintenance.
What is cPanel Webmail?
cPanel Webmail is one of the tools offered within cPanel. It allows hosters to add, remove and manage email accounts within their hosting account.
The email service from cPanel Webmail has all the typical email tools you would expect: Inbox, Sent Items, Drafts, Trash, Folders, etc. There is also a settings utility where you can manage signatures, away messages, themes, and more.
Like other email services, cPanel Webmail can also be integrated with other email clients, like Gmail, Outlook, or Bluemail. There are some additional configuration steps owners would need to take in order to do this – we don’t explain these steps in this post, but reach out to us if you need guidance on this.
What are Google Workspace and Microsoft 365?
Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are productivity software suites by Google and Microsoft respectively.
They both provide email services in addition to other productivity software like word processing, spreadsheets and conference calls.
Unlike cPanel Webmail, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 have their own email clients, which are desktop or mobile apps that can use to manage emails. These email clients are Gmail and Outlook respectively.
Summary of Features
Here is a summary of key features for all three types of email services – cPanel Webmail, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365:
| Feature | cPanel Webmail | Google Workspace (Business Starter) | Microsoft 365 (Business Basic) |
|---|
| Email Hosting | Hosted on your own server via cPanel | Cloud-hosted by Google | Cloud-hosted by Microsoft |
| Storage | Limited by server space | 30GB per user | 50GB email + 1TB OneDrive per user |
| Collaboration Tools | Basic (Webmail, Calendar) | Gmail, Drive, Docs, Meet, Chat | Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, Word, Excel (Web) |
| Security | Basic spam filters, relies on server security | Advanced security, phishing & malware protection | Advanced security, threat detection |
| Uptime & Reliability | Depends on hosting provider | 99.9% uptime SLA | 99.9% uptime SLA |
| Custom Domains | Yes, via cPanel setup | Yes, with domain verification | Yes, with domain verification |
| Ease of Setup | Requires manual setup and maintenance | Simple setup, automatic updates | Simple setup, automatic updates |
| Typical Cost | Charged as per hosting storage | $6/user/month | $6/user/month |
| Our Fees | n/a | Contact us | Contact us |
| Best For | Small businesses & developers managing their own servers | Businesses needing seamless collaboration & cloud storage | Businesses using Microsoft Office tools & enterprise security |
Why We Prefer Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 Instead of cPanel Webmail
When people ask us about email services, we offer Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. We do not recommend cPanel Webmail. We do this for 4 reasons:
Server Redundancy
Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are hosted on Google and Microsoft servers respectively. When servers go down, email services are shifted to live servers. Service does not stop. This is not the case with cPanel Webmail, which is dependant on the client’s hosting plan.
Easy Setup
The cloud hosted options with Google and Microsoft are easy for our clients to manage once they are set up. Routine tasks like setting up folders, integration on devices and password resets are easy to do. This is not as straightforward with cPanel Webmail.
Storage Space
cPanel Webmail storage is dependant on how much space was part of the hosting plan. For example, if you set up 2GB, and your website takes up 500MB, you can allocate the remaining 1.5GB to email. However, if this email fills up, you need to contact your hosting provider to expand your space, or you need to delete correspondence. With Google and Microsoft, you have sufficient space until you need to upgrade your plan.
Security Issues
Clients who we used to sell cPanel Webmail to in the past experienced issues with receiving spam. There are mechanisms to reduce this, but they require manual configuration and some back and forth with the client. When we switched to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, all spam issues stopped as there are automatic filters to take care of this.
Productivity
Afterall, cPanel Webmail is for email only, whereas Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 offer a suite of apps to help businesses collaborate. For us this not only helps our clients use email in an easier way, but also enables them to transact their business more professionally.
Putting Small Businesses on the Web
At Chapa Link our goal has always been to put small businesses on the web. We will continue to focus on websites and use third parties for email. Our experience has shown us that using cloud-hosted email services like those offered by Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 enable our clients to do more than cPanel Webmail. As an evolving business ourselves, we are open to change and adaptation – we look forward to updating you here in case anything changes.
For now, for any further questions or support with email, contact us.